Fuzz impedance question (kind of)

[thenextbigthing]

Hi,

I've searched but not really found an answer for this. I think it's the right forum as it's partially aboubt effects.

I want to buy a woolly mammoth pedal but I have an active bass (and i've heard it sounds bad with an active),
I think it'll be ok though because my bass has a active/passive switch so i'll switch it to passive when i'm using the pedal

My question is, will this still work alright with my amp (ashdown abm evo II) as it'll have the imput selected to active.
Will the pedal make up the difference in volume, will there be any problems with impedance? Or will it just sound rubbish.
Also can doing this harm the amp in any way?

If it helps, other pedals i'll have in the chain is a boss TU-2, a Boss SYB-5 (mabye) and one day a fulltone bassdrive

Thanks,
Mike.

[niftydog]

It all depends on how your amp implements the active/passive switch. Some alter impedance, others just insert a signal pad. This is just one of those "suck it and see" issues.

[ZombiCrow]

If you're wondering whether the Mammoth will be able to make up the difference between your passive and active settings, Yes, the Mammoth has enough volume on tap, assuming that you'll only go passive to use the Mammoth and use the Mammoth only in passive, you could set the volume on the Mammoth to make up for it, and away you go. Mammoth mammoth mammoth.

[thenextbigthing]

Thanks, for the replys,

Originally Posted by niftydog

It all depends on how your amp implements the active/passive switch. Some alter impedance, others just insert a signal pad. This is just one of those "suck it and see" issues.

I've had a look at the ashdown website and it looks like the imedance is altered, does this mean my idea won't work?

High Instrument Input Impedance 3.9m Ohms, input range 150mV - 20mV p-p

Low Instrument Input Impedance 10k Ohms, input range 300mV - 40V p-p

[ehque]

That's the input impedance of the amp, which reacts with the OUTPUT impedance of the wooly mammoth. If im not wrong the wooly mammoth only has issues with the inputs.

[bongomania]

Correct- however it's a true-bypass pedal, which means it will have a different output impedance when engaged versus bypassed. But all that really means is you'd have to experiment to see which amp input "works best" to your own ears.

[niftydog]

Originally Posted by ehque

That's the input impedance of the amp, which reacts with the OUTPUT impedance of the wooly mammoth. If im not wrong the wooly mammoth only has issues with the inputs.

This is a separate issue. If you alter the impedance of the amp you might also find the output level of the pedal changes.

My advice is always to find the setting that works the best for your amp and leave it alone. Normally I would advise that if you are running a pedal with a buffer to leave the amp in active mode.

Running true bypass pedals and switching between active and passive basses complicates things.

[JanusZarate]

I'd suspect that you wouldn't avoid the "bad sound" issue because of the input impedance of the pedal, which the active/passive switch on your amp can't resolve.